nineball

i looked around and didn't really find anything that showed step by step instructions on installing bed lights so i made my own. i apologize that one or two of the steps are missing photos but hopefully the explanations suffice.

i wanted lights in my bed that were controlled by a toggle switch located in the bed. after some searching i decided to tap into the 7 plug wiring harness. i had to install the factory fuse and relay to power the charging pin on the harness since the previous owner never did, but that was pretty simple with the parts still in a bag in the glove box.

on my '13 XLT the positive (orange wire) was #5 and the negative (white wire) was #2. disregard the colors in the photo i am just using it for the numbers for reference. if you get lost the cover of the 7pin connection has a wiring diagram.



used wiretaps on each to install the positive and negative leads. i don't have a shot showing this but it's a pretty simple thing to do. i covered the wires in loom and ran them up and into the tail light housing area.





i ran the wires out a hole in the bed. i also ran a set of wires down from above and out the same hole to connect to the switch. i tied both grounds into the same pole to make life easier.





i have to get my step bit back from my dad to slightly increase the size of the hole so the switch will mount bit this gives you the idea.






i stuck the led light strip to the bottom of the bak rails, connected them to the wires i ran to the top and all was right in the world.

nineball

here you can see the connection on the top part.




10 pack of led toggle switched - $9




led light strip - $12




wire loom - $3

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-ei...rap-66987.html

wire taps and electrical tape i had sitting around, so the total cost was $24 and an hour of my time. hope this may help someone else down the line.

Flowpro

Nice write up.

Are those switches you posted waterproof?

nineball

thanks. the switch is not advertised as waterproof but i used terminals with built-in heat shrink and will coat the back of the switch with some plasti-dip to seal up everything.

69Shark

Another thought on the light switches.
I hooked mine up to the cargo lamp.

Any door opens, bed lights on. Eventually they turn themselves off.
I can use my factory remote to "Unlock" the doors which turns the cargo, interior and now my bed lamps on.
They then turn themselves off after a few minutes or anytime I lock the doors.

My needs are simple and that works very well for me.
Scott

Tony8444

great write up. Any way we can hook into the switch on the dash also?

i love the way you did the wiring and started doing mine the same way (by started I ordered the parts lol).

Is there a way to hook it to the cargo lights and the switch like you did?